Leadership Development In our effort to promote grantmaking practices that improve nonprofit performance, GEO brings you the latest on Leadership Development.  Read more about GEO's Leadership Development work. What's New in Leadership Development? Collective Leadership compiles recent thinking about the growing theory of collective leadership, its benefits for building nonprofit effectiveness, and how best to invest in it. Networks, Network Mapping & Philanthropy compiles recent thinking on how nonprofit leaders (and those who support them) can use networks for achieving social change. The Nonprofit Sector's Leadership Deficit from the Bridgespan Group CompassPoint updates its Daring to Lead 2006 report on executive directors   Investments in Leadership A table of current grantmaker support of leadership development. Investments in Leadership: Building the Next Generation A table of current grantmakers support of next generation leadership. Investments in Leadership: Executive Transitions & Succession Planning A table of current grantmakers that are making investments in this area.   Learn more about about executive transitions and succession planning. GEO brings it all together: grantmaking practices, tools, providers and research on this topic.  GEO's LEADERSHIP Newsletter (GEO members only). Engage fellow Grantmakers Use GEOList Schedule a Leadership Dialogue

GEO Publications Investing in Leadership Series Vol. 2: Inspiration and Ideas from Philanthropy's Latest Frontier Vol. 1: A Grantmaker's Framework for Understanding Nonprofit Leadership Development The Departing: Exiting Nonprofit Leaders as a Resource for Social Change Coaching as a Tool for Building Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness Feedback What do you think of this page? These resources? What else would you like to see?

About GEO's Leadership Development Work

Research shows that capacity-building interventions often fail if strong organizational leadership is not first in place. Therefore, GEO believes that leadership is a key area to address by grantmakers interested in improving nonprofit performance.  And most GEO members agree. Our 2005 member survey found that more than three-quarters of GEO member organizations assess grantee leadership as part of their due diligence process, and nearly two-thirds directly support the leadership development of grantees, either through funding or directly through their grantmaking organizations.

GEO's leadership development work focuses on investments in leadership that build the capacity of organizations to deliver upon their missions. GEO's current leadership activities include:

• Compile and promote the latest thinking about leadership development as an investment in nonprofit capacity building; 
• Lead in-person dialogues on leadership development as a capacity-building tool;
• Develop services for change agents in philanthropy who support nonprofit leadership.

GEO Leadership Development Committee Members
Our leadership development work has been informed by a group of advisors, including:

• Cheryl Dorsey, Echoing Green
• Rick Moyers, Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation
• Annemarie Riemer, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
• Donna Stark, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Gayle Williams, The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation
• Linda Wood, The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

We also wish to thank Barbara Kibbe for her past support as an advisory committee member.

Thanks are also due the following foundations who have supported our leadership development work:

• Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation
• Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund
• UPS Foundation
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation

If you would like more information about or would like to get involved in GEO's leadership development work, please contact Courtney Bourns, GEO's Director of Programs at 202.898.0218 or bourns AT geofunders.org.